Michael Dalton Johnson - Rules of the Hunt: Real-World Advice for Entrepreneurial and Business Success

Copyright 2012 by Michael Dalton Johnson. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-0-07-179139-7
MHID: 0-07-179139-6

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For Kathryn

Covers the many unexpected challenges and opportunities entrepreneurs encounter that are never part of a formal business education.

Rules for developing leadership, which is an essential element of entrepreneurial success. Subtle, yet profoundly effective ways to create loyalty, inspire trust, and motivate others.

Advice on forming strong and long-lasting business bonds with customers, employees, suppliers, and investors that are money in the bank.

Everybody loves to buy, but nobody likes to be sold. Strategies and tips to excite your buyers and close more sales.

Real-world marketing advice with eye-opening case histories, horror stories, and examples of soaring successes.

Using technology to support your goals without losing sight of business basics.

How to play your best game, grow your profits, and get the right things done.

Winning strategies for persuading, negotiating, bartering, and steadily reaching business goals.

How to protect your investment of time and money and sidestep the most common pitfalls and traps you are likely to face.

Thoughtful survival advice on maintaining balance, health, and sanity while pursuing business goals.

BY JEFFREY GITOMER

WHEN I WAS a sophomore in college, my friend and I bought a standard bred racehorse. It was a claiming race, and we had the money, so we decided to take a risk and have some fun.

It was my first real business venture. The horse won its second race, and I got to go down to the winners circle for a photo op. What a feeling. What a rush. What a great business venture.

Fast-forward six months, and I learned another lesson: Horses eat lots of hay. And if the costs of food, care, and stable rental are greater than your winnings, youre in a losing situation.

I wasnt just a horse owner, I was in the business of making money. Making hay to buy hay.

Whether you are an entrepreneur, sales professional, or business owner, you are in the race of your lifeagainst yourself. Winning or losing that race is in your hands. Your success will depend on what actions you take every day, the decisions you make, the experiences you have, and, most importantly, the lessons you learn from each.

Every one of you has a half-dozen stories attached to a sales success or a sales failure that has affected your success, your fortune, and your life. Stories form the core of emotional engagement, emotional attachment, and emotional connection when they are told with passion.

In Rules of the Hunt, Michael Dalton Johnson gives you real-world business and life advice to help you win your race. He tells memorable business stories and presents lessons about integrity, about money, about reality, about failure, and about life. These lessons are authentic and insightful, and they will have an impact on your thinking, your career, your success, and your personal fulfillment.

Michaels stories are real, relatable, and actionable. Stories that will help you find your brass ring, pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, golden ticket, or winning lottery ticket, otherwise known as business success.

The lessons that are imparted in these modern-day stories will help you in the same way they helped Michael. Each chapter, each set of stories, is to be taken one at a time so that you can integrate his lessons into your knowledge.

I have reached millions through my best-selling books and internationally syndicated sales and business growth column. I conduct 100 live conferences and seminars each year. I am proud to have earned the title of Americas number one sales trainer.

What many people often dont consider when they read my books or attend my seminars is that I am first and foremost an entrepreneur. And I come from a family of entrepreneurs.

Ive been in business for myself for over four decades. I have built a team of people who share my entrepreneurial vision and have helped me create and deliver a wide range of personal development products and services to business and sales professionals worldwide.

Along the journey there were opportunities to be seized and obstacles to be overcome. Each one has given me a valuable business and life lesson. Entrepreneurial success is both earned and learned.